Galaxy S5 beat out by iPhone 5c in its Great Britain debut

Sales of the iPhone 5c may have been a disappointment to many, but the European launch of the Samsung Galaxy S5 proved that Apple's colorful plastic handset still has an edge on the competition. According to sales data from Kantar Worldpanel, the Galaxy S5 came in third place on the Great Britain sales charts behind the iPhone 5s, and -- I hope you're sitting down -- the iPhone 5c.

That's pretty surprising, considering the smartphone OS marketshare distribution across Europe greatly favors Android, with over 73% of the region devoted to Google's platform and iOS scrounging up just 16.6% for itself. Of the European consumers who adopted the new Galaxy phone, 17% were former Apple customers, while the vast majority were existing Samsung users.

Apple's recent decision to introduce an 8GB variant of the iPhone 5c with a slightly lower price seems to be paying off, at least in the United Kingdom.